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Harvard to bar members of single-gender clubs from leading groups

In an effort to avoid sexism and improve campus culture, Harvard's president, Drew Faust, announced a new policy.

Harvard University president Drew Faust, the university's first female president, announced Friday that students who join Harvard's male-only social clubs won't be able to serve as sports captains or leaders of other campus groups starting in fall 2017. (Charles Krupa / The associated press)

By Collin BinkleyThe Associated Press

Fri., May 6, 2016

BOSTON—Students who join Harvard’s male-only social clubs won’t be able to serve as sports captains or leaders of other campus groups starting in fall 2017.

The new policy, announced Friday by Harvard’s first female president, also applies to other unofficial single-gender groups on campus, including fraternities and sororities. Top officials at the university have been pushing those groups to stop excluding students based on gender even though they aren’t officially recognized by the school.

Harvard president Drew Faust said in a statement that while the school has opened its doors to women and minorities, the campus culture has lagged behind.

“A truly inclusive community requires that students have the opportunity to participate in the life of the campus free from exclusion on arbitrary grounds,” Faust said.

Under the new policy, students who join single-gender groups will also be prohibited from getting the dean’s endorsement for scholarships. The rule will apply to all new students starting with the freshman class entering in the fall of 2017. It won’t affect the 10,000 undergraduates already on campus or those coming this fall.

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Harvard’s male-only social groups, known as final clubs, have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. The university reported in March that among female seniors who interacted socially with the clubs, 47 per cent had experienced nonconsensual sexual contact. The report accused club members of having a “sense of sexual entitlement.”

Under pressure from the school, two clubs have vowed to start admitting women over the past two years. But some have pushed back. Harvard alumni in the Porcellian Club have insisted that sexual assault isn’t a problem in their club, and one suggested that allowing women would actually increase the potential for sexual misconduct.

The Porcellian Club, which was founded 225 years ago, has attracted a long roster of notable members over its history, including Theodore Roosevelt and members of his family.

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